Hugo's Princess
by ApplauseJunkie
Summary: It's been eight years since Sofia introduced Prince Hugo to enchanted ice dancing. Now he's asking sixteen-year-old Sofia to dance with him in the Disney Olympic Winter Games. But what happens when Sofia wants to be more than Hugo's partner?
1. Episode 1: Enchanted Ice Dancing

"You want me to what?" Sofia asked, her giant blue eyes blinking up at me incredulously.

I sighed. "You don't have to look so surprised. You've danced with me for other enchanted ice dancing championships." She had danced with me in most of them, actually, because most of them required at least one partner dance.

Sofia was staring at me as if I had asked her to punch me in the face. "This isn't The Tri-Kingdom Area Skating Festival, Hugo! All one hundred and thirty-eight kingdoms compete in the Disney Olympic Winter Games! This is the biggest competition of all!"

"I'm perfectly aware of that, Sofia. What does that have to do with it?"

She tossed her head, causing her auburn curls to bounce indignantly on her slender shoulders. "You should pick a better skater than me to be your partner!"

Now it was my turn to be incredulous. "What?"

"You need a better partner if you want to get anywhere in the Olympics, Hugo! Your kingdom has never even competed in the Ice Dancing division before!"

"A 'better partner'?" I repeated skeptically. I couldn't think of anyone I would rather skate with.

Sofia glanced down the rink, where a tall, slender blonde was practicing her quintuple axels. "Amber's a better skater than I am. Why not ask her?"

I managed to avoid visibly cringing when she suggested I dance with her older sister. "First of all, you're every bit as good an ice dancer as she is, and, more importantly, because she's not my best friend."

That got her attention. Her cheeks flushed in a way that made my smile widen of its own accord. She opened her mouth and closed it again without making any sound, her eyes darting to one side. I watched her thoughts fly across her face and waited for her to break the silence.

"All right, I'll skate with you," she said, offering me a brave smile.

I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding and a swarm of butterflies erupted in my stomach. Thrilled and relieved, I dashed forward and swept her into a hug. With practically no effort I lifted both of her feet off the ground and swung her in a circle, before setting her gently back on the ground. "Thank you, Sofia," I said without releasing her from my grip.

"I just hope I don't hold you back," she murmured uncertainly into my coat.

"You won't," I promised, finally stepping back and ending our hug. "You'll only have to learn one routine, and we have a whole year to practice. The DOWGs are only held every three years. That's plenty of time to prepare a four-minute dance."

"If you say so," she replied, shrugging at me with that adorable uncertain half-smile that she so often gave me when I pushed her out of her comfort zone on the ice.

Ever since that winter when I was eleven years old and Sofia introduced me to ice dancing, I had been skating every winter from the first snowfall to the spring thaw. Under my dad's ever-enthusiastic coaching, I had won at least two championships a year since I was fourteen. Sofia was my partner of choice anytime I needed one, which meant she had helped me to win at least half of my awards. Sofia was a strong skater, if not the most naturally gifted, for which I was more than enough to compensate.

I took to ice dancing as if I were born for it; I was already an excellent skater because of hockey, and used to maneuvering in the air on a flying horse, which easily transitioned into flying on my own. Once my dad realized my potential as an ice dancer, he became even more fanatically supportive than he had been about hockey in my childhood. There would have been no possible way I could compete for the Disney Winter Olympics at nineteen without his persistent help, and I was convinced there was no possible way I could win at the Disney Winter Olympics without Sofia skating beside me.

Sofia was waiting for me on the rink, so I hurried into my skates and glided out onto the ice. With one push of my blades I was already building speed, and leaned forward as I rocketed toward Sofia. She gasped and looked terrified, but didn't move. I grinned and pushed harder and leaned forward further. Then, moments before my helmet connected with her stomach, I thrust one blade into the ice and sailed upward, my blades making a graceful arc in the air above Sofia's head. I tucked my arms and as my body flipped over her, it rotated four—no, six—and a half times, and I landed on my left blade, still facing Sofia, but behind her. I looped around and skated back to her as she slowly turned to look at me, ashen-faced and breathing heavily.

"What was that?" she asked.

"I haven't given it a name yet," I replied, casually circling her. "I thought we could put it in the routine."

"You could've warned me!" she scolded, pouting at me and putting her hands on her hips.

Even if I had tried to hide my laughter, which I didn't, I would not have succeeded. She looked so cute when she stuck that bottom lip out, sometimes I would make her mad on purpose just to see that adorable face. But Sofia knew it was all in good fun, and in no time at all she was giggling with me. After a moment, her face went blank.

"Wait, you haven't given it a name? As in, you made it up?"

"Sure. At least, I don't think anyone else thought of it first." I pirouetted on one blade, pretending to ignore the look she was giving me.

"I guess I didn't realize you were allowed to make up your own moves…"

"Why not? I've read the DOWG rulebook and there's nothing in it about inventing your own moves." I circled her again. "That means it's allowed."

"Not being in the rules isn't the same as being allowed," she protested, putting her hands on her hips.

I promptly slid my arms under hers and swung her around. "Sure it is. Even if we don't get points for it, it'll still be awesome."

Sofia squeaked in surprise and skated out of arm's reach as soon as I put her down. I laughed and held up my mittened hands. "Okay, I'm done messing around. Let's warm up."

She smiled at me. "Okay."


	2. Episode 2: James

_[Author's Note: Okay guys, don't get used to having two updates in one day, but I'm just as excited for this as you are, so here's Episode Two!]_

Sofia and I had prepared for so many competitions before, the two of us fell easily into our old practice schedule. While Sofia was in school at Royal Prep High, I practiced at home. My father had built me a massive indoor rink for my sixteenth birthday, which meant I could skate year-round. A little before three, I rode Electra to the high school and waited on the lawn for the bell to ring. Sofia was perfectly capable of flying her horse to my castle on her own, but I enjoyed getting to see everyone there. Since I graduated last May, I didn't get to see my old friends as much, so I looked forward to saying hello to them after school.

On the last day of school before the winter break began, the doors opened a second before the bell actually began to ring, releasing an avalanche of teenagers, eager for their two weeks without school. I grinned and hurried forward to greet James, who was leading the pack. He met me with a cross between a tackle and a hug, which I reciprocated with equal enthusiasm.

"You waiting on Sofia?" he asked. I nodded. "She's gonna be a minute," James told me. "She's helping Clio with some girl thing."

"Some girl thing?" I rolled my eyes. "That's real specific, James."

He shrugged. "I didn't ask questions."

I sighed. "Well thanks for letting me know, anyway," I said, and turned to greet my other friends.

Sofia and Clio appeared just as the group began to disperse. Apparently the 'girl thing' had something to do with Clio's hat, as they were both still focused on adjusting it on her head. I was glad she was looking away, because the moment I saw her my face lit up in an involuntary grin. It didn't matter how much I was around her; every time Sofia walked into my life, everything got brighter. The big-hearted little girl who had come to Royal Prep as a brand-new princess eight years ago had grown into an incredible young lady whose genuine goodness shone through with every smile.

I resumed my casual posture before Sofia looked up to see me waiting for her next to Electra. She hugged Clio goodbye and dashed toward me. I opened my arms and she leapt into them, throwing her arms around my neck as I swung her in two tight circles. She weighed practically nothing in my grip; I had been lifting her on and off the ice for years.

As I set her down and we turned toward the stables, James trotted up to us again. "Hey Hugo! Can I ask you something before you leave?"

Sofia smiled at her brother, then looked at me. "I'll go grab Minimus and see you in a minute." She turned and headed for the stable, leaving me alone with James. I looked at him curiously.

He waited until Sofia was out of earshot, then gave me a look I didn't know why I recognized. "Sofia told me you asked her to dance with you in the Olympics." I nodded in affirmation. James studied my face, with growing seriousness until I finally burst out, "What?"

"You know she's only sixteen?" He asked.

I frowned. Of course I did. "There's no age limit in the Disney Olympics. Peter Pan is one of the founding members."

"That's…not what I meant." His expression was starting to worry me. Seeing James without a smile on his face was rare enough, but to see him staring me down like this made me uneasy.

"James, what are you talking about?"

He glanced over his shoulder to see if Sofia was back yet. "Listen, it's none of my business. But that's my sister. And it's my job to look out for her. So just…" A flurry of thoughts crossed his face as he deliberated how to phrase his next sentence. "…Just stick to dancing, okay?"

I raised an eyebrow. "What else would we—oh." It dawned on me that the look James was giving me was the one he had given Desmond when he asked Sofia out last year. I could feel my face turning tomato red, and words stuck in my throat when I tried to protest. I shook my head violently. "No!" I gasped. "No, we really do just dance, James, I swear."

James crossed his arms, which were bulkier than mine. The blonde prince was a much more well-rounded athlete than I was; he played all kinds of sports, and I had dropped almost everything else to focus on ice dancing. He was easily my weight half over again, and almost as tall as I was, although he was a year and a half younger than I. If there were one person at Royal Prep I did not want to face in a fistfight, it would be him. Luckily for me, Sofia was not even remotely interested in me, and I quickly informed James of that situation.

James looked confused. "She's not?"

I relaxed slightly. "Dude, your sister's way outta my league."

He grinned. "I know. But Sofia can see the good in anybody."

"Ouch." I rolled my eyes. "No, but seriously, you got nothin' to worry about. Believe me, you'd be the first to know if she showed any sign of interest."

James chuckled a little. "And in all honesty, dude, if it weren't for the fact that you're nineteen, I'd be cool with it. You're a good guy. I think you'd take care of her."

I looked over James' shoulder to see a stunted purple horse flying toward us. "Sofia doesn't need anyone to take care of her," I said as she landed, "Do you, Sofia?"

"Nope!" Came the cheerful reply.

I raised an eyebrow at James. "See?" I grabbed Electra's saddle and hopped on. "See you later, James! Ready Sofia?"

She was already in the air again. "Ready!"

In a flurry of wings, we took off into the winter sky.


	3. Episode 3: Distractions at Practice

Sofia grunted as she landed on the ice flat on her back. Instantly I was by her side, helping her to her feet as she tried to recover her breath. I wrapped one arm around her waist to hold her steady until she could breathe normally again. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." She looked up at me without skating out of my grip. "Did you catch how many rotations short I am on that flip?"

It took me a minute to realize what she said; my mind always seemed to work slower when she was this close to me. Barely any air between our faces… On an impulse, I wrapped my other arm around her waist as well. "You're only half a rotation shy of landing it. You're so close." God, she was so close to me.

Sofia's eyes lowered while I spoke—was she watching my mouth?—but then she smiled up at me. "That's it? Half a rotation?"

I was positive that if I tried to speak my voice would crack, so I just nodded at her. She giggled and looked at my mouth again. It would be so easy to just pull her against me and kiss her, but I remembered James's warning and reluctantly pulled back and glided away from her. "Do you wanna practice it on the trampoline for a little while?" I asked, trying to avoid looking at her.

Sofia sighed. "Sure." She followed me to the edge of the ice and we took off our skates. In a room attached to the rink was a huge floor trampoline, which we used to practice our jumps. Getting the jump wrong and falling on your head hurts a lot less on a tramp than it does on ice, and the bounciness of it simulated the effects of the enchanted skates. We wore just our socks, and padded out into the center of the floor.

I put both hands on her waist. "Ready?"

She covered my hands with her own and bent her knees. "Ready."

We bounced together three times to build up some inertia, then on the fourth bounce Sofia pushed off hard with her legs just as I launched her into the air with my arms. She soared upward, and at the peak of her arc, she tucked her legs and flipped seven times before untucking a second too soon and landing flat on her bottom. Fortunately, instead of bruising her tailbone, she just bounced a few times, then stood up and looked at me. "What did I do wrong this time?" she asked with more than a hint of frustration in her voice.

"You didn't hold your tuck long enough," I replied simply as she bounced back over to me. "You'll get it this time. Just concentrate." I put my hands back on her waist and we started over. She landed on her bottom three more times before finally sticking the landing with both feet on the trampoline. When she did it, I jumped into the air and cheered. "Yeah! You did it Sofia!"

Sofia ran across the trampoline to me and tackled me in an embrace. I let myself fall flat onto my back; landing on the tramp didn't hurt at all. What I hadn't thought about was the fact that that meant Sofia would land directly on top of me. Her entire body was pressed against mine, and her auburn curls brushed my face as she pushed herself up on her elbows so she could look at me. Every move she made sent electric jolts through me, and I was beginning to wish I had worn something other than loose gym shorts to practice.

Her crystal blue eyes were still sparkling with the joy of finally landing her flip, and her grin hadn't moved either. I tried to smile back at her, but oh God, she was still laying right on top of me, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. I felt myself begin to sweat. And that was when I noticed her head moving toward mine. Two opposing feelings, both equally strong, filled my mind. The first was how much I wanted to let her kiss me, to kiss back, to hold her as close to me as I could; but the other was the fear of what James would do to me if I allowed her to kiss me. Before she could close the gap between us, I cleared my throat.

"Uh, Sofia?"

She stopped and looked at me blankly. I took the opportunity to wiggle out from underneath her and stand up. Words stuck in my throat. I had no idea how to explain this to her. I opened and closed my mouth a few times before she finally just stood up.

"It's okay," she said. I frowned. Okay? What was okay? Nothing about this situation was okay. When she looked up at me, her smile was gone. "I understand. And don't worry, I won't let it interfere with practice. I think it'd be best if we call it a day for now though." I stared at her as she slowly padded off the trampoline and back out into the main room, put her shoes on, and left. By the time I had hurried after her she was already airborne on Minimus. I watched her fly away, then went back inside and sat down, letting my head fall into my hands.

Sofia had tried to kiss me. Sofia, the best friend I had ever had, the girl with whom I had gone from hatred to friendship, now wanted something more. From me. And like an idiot I had refused her. Because I was afraid.

In a sudden outburst, I kicked the wall of the rink. Coward. I've always been a coward. Ever since I was a kid. That's why I hated Sofia so much when I first met her; she had threatened me. She was better than I was at something, and that scared me. Once we had become friends, Sofia helped me face my fears of telling my dad how much I loved ice dancing. And now I was too scared to let her give me the one thing I wanted more than anything in the world: her.


	4. Episode 4: Coming Together

I was still on the rink an hour later when the doors swung open and James marched up to the edge of the ice. He glared at me as I glided over to him. "What did you do to her?" he demanded.

My blades ground into the ice as I stopped as quickly as I could and threw my hands up in innocence. "Nothing!" I told him. "Absolutely nothing happened."

James looked furious. "Then explain to me why my sister came home from practice early just so she could run upstairs and start crying!"

I froze, staring at him in horror. Sofia was crying. And it was my fault. My stomach turned to lead, my knees turned to water, and my voice failed me completely.

Glaring impatiently at me, James crossed his arms. "This is the last time I'm going to ask calmly. What happened?"

There was no lie in the world that could save me now. I just had to hope that he would believe the truth and have mercy on me. Shuffling with my skates, I took a deep breath. "Sofia tried to kiss me."

The rage on James' face turned to surprise. "I thought you said she wasn't into you."

"I didn't think she was," I replied, shrugging helplessly at him.

He frowned. "Then why is she crying?"

I stared at the ice, trying to force the words out, but it was painful to say. "I stopped her."

James stared at me. For a long time neither of us said anything, James watching me and me watching my own toes. I had no idea what I expected him to do, whether he would agree that I did the right thing by turning her down, or if he would beat me to a pulp for making his sister cry. But he just looked at me, as if he were utterly confused.

After an awkward minute of stillness, I finally broke the silence. "Maybe I should go talk to her."

Looking past me with unseeing eyes, James simply nodded. "Yeah, maybe you should."

I skated around him and took off my skates, changing into my regular shoes. Looking back, I called, "You coming?"

Finally James shook himself out of his reverie and trotted after me. We mounted our horses and took off towards Enchancia castle. A short flight later and I was racing him up the stairs to Sofia's bedroom. I stopped short before the door.

"Can I talk to her alone, bro?"

James hesitated, then nodded and stepped aside. I took a deep breath and knocked. I could hear the sound of tears within, but no answer.

I knocked again. "Sofia? It's me."

After a pause and a long sniff, a familiar voice asked, "Hugo?"

"Can I come in?"

"Um," there were scuffling noises within, as though she were hurrying around the room. "Sure. Come on in."

By the time I opened the door she greeted me with dry eyes and a forced smile, but her nose and eyes were still red from crying. I swallowed hard and tried to speak. "About what happened, I didn't—I wasn't...I..." The words wouldn't come. What was I trying to say to her, anyway? I exhaled. "I'm sorry."

Sofia blushed and looked away, trying not to start crying again. "You didn't do anything wrong."

I sighed. "Yes, I did."

She looked at me with a question in her eyes. I scrambled to figure out how to explain it.

"W-we can't...you know," I flushed and my voice stuck in my throat.

"Why can't we, 'you know'?" She used her fingers to make quotes around the last two words.

In a panic, I burst out, "Because you're sixteen!"

Sofia looked taken aback. "So I'm too young for you?"

"No, that's not-!" I broke off in frustration, pacing on the spot to relieve the nervous anxiety building up in my chest. "It isn't that I don't want..." I couldn't find a word that didn't sound cheesy or creepy. This whole process was extremely frustrating when all I wanted to do was pull her into my arms and kiss those tears away. "...because I do." I finally stopped moving and just looked at her, defenseless, totally honest.

Sofia stared at me for a long time. Finally she whispered, "You do?"

"More than anything," I admitted.

"Then why...?"

I lowered my head. "Your brother thinks I'm too old for you."

Sofia gave me an indulgent smile. "Hugo, in the whole time that you've known me, when have I ever let someone else's disapproval stop me from following my heart?"

I grinned involuntarily. It was true; Sofia had never been one to care about other people's opinions. She was a determined and stubborn princess, who always did just as her conscience guided her. At the moment she was grinning back at me, her beautiful eyes shining.

On impulse, I opened my arms, and she dashed into them, flinging her arms around my neck as I swung her around the way we had always done. This time, though, when I set her down, I continued to hold her against me, and she left her arms looped over my shoulders. In one motion, she rose onto her tiptoes as I leaned down to meet her, and our lips crashed together in our long-awaited first kiss. I entangled my fingers in her soft auburn hair and pulled her head closer to me, eagerly drinking in every wonderful sensation as I kissed the most remarkable princess in the world.

When the kiss finally ended, I rested my forehead against hers and we stood grinning at each other. After a while I started to laugh. "James is gonna kill me," I said.

Sofia giggled. "I'll talk to him," she said, and leaned up to kiss me again, which I returned happily. She was so soft, all over. Her skin was like warm satin, and her lips tasted like vanilla cupcakes.

When she broke the kiss this time she turned her head and leaned against my chest. I buried my face in her hair, breathing in her scent and kissing the top of her head. Oh, yeah. This was totally worth having James beat me up.


	5. Episode 5: James's Blessing

I opened the door to Sofia's bedroom to find James waiting with arms crossed. I winced, but Sofia slipped her hand into mine and smiled up at me. For all the time that I had spent holding her hands and wrists on the ice, her touch felt strangely new, like we were holding hands for the first time. A smile forced its way onto my face, and refused to budge no matter how angrily James glowered at me.

Sofia stepped forward. "James—"

Her brother held up a hand to silence her, and approached me. Glaring daggers at me, he poked my chest threateningly. "You treat her right, or so help me—"

"James!" Sofia stepped in between us.

I frowned. "Treat her right? Like…you're gonna let us date?"

The prince's face relaxed a little. "Like Sofia's gonna let me stop you?"

Sofia giggled.

I smiled and rested my hands on her shoulders, looking over her head at her brother. "I'll be good to her, James, I promise."

I wouldn't say James smiled at me, but at least he didn't look too angry anymore. Eventually he turned and left the two of us alone again. I let my arms slide around her from behind and pulled her against me. She exhaled happily and leaned against my chest.

I kissed the top of her head. "I never thought this would happen."

"What do you mean?" Sofia cooed.

"You liking me back," I explained. "I always figured you were out of my league."

She turned her head to look up at me. "Out of your league? You were the most popular prince at Royal Prep. You always had a girlfriend."

"The same one."

"You talked to other girls whenever you and Hildegarde weren't dating."

Princess Hildegarde and I had dated on and off all through high school. We finally called it quits for the last time right before we graduated, and hadn't spoken much since. But no matter who I was dating, Sofia had always been my best friend. The one girl I couldn't touch. The only girl in the school that didn't seem to faint every time I walked into the room. And now she was the one in my arms. I squeezed her gently.

"Doesn't matter now," I said. "We're here. And if you're free this Friday," I leaned down to whisper in her ear, "I'll take you out and give you an evening fit for the most beautiful princess I've ever seen." I felt her shiver beneath me, and I grinned. Knowing I could make her shiver like that was an addictively wonderful feeling. I wanted to make her happier than she'd ever been.

A light caught my eye and I glanced down to see Sofia's necklace turn blue and start glowing. "Sofia…?" I loosened my grip and pointed to the big teardrop-shaped jewel.

She looked down at her neck and muttered a word that princesses aren't supposed to use. In all the time I'd known her, I had never seen her without the amulet around her neck. When I had asked about it years ago, Sofia had explained that her dad gave it to her, and she would never take it off. But it had always stayed purple before, and had certainly never glowed like that.

"How is it doing that?" I asked, staring at it as it levitated an inch above the smooth, white skin of her chest. Even amazed as I was by the strangeness of her amulet, my eye couldn't help but wander to the neckline of her dress, and the shapely body beneath it. She wasn't as gifted as Hildegarde, but her body was much stronger and athletic.

She covered the glowing jewel with her hands. "It's magic," she said simply. Her face made me wonder if something was wrong.

I frowned. "What does it mean when it does that?"

Sofia looked up at me, her blue eyes serious. "It means I have to go. I'm so sorry, Hugo." She suddenly rose up on her tiptoes and planted a quick kiss on my lips. "I'll see you tomorrow for practice, okay?"

I blinked with surprise at the sudden thrill when her lips met mine, but didn't let her go just yet. I was starting to get worried about the way she was acting. "Is everything okay?"

Sofia nodded. "Yes, everything is fine. I just have something I need to do. Right now." And with that, she wiggled out of my arms and hurried back into her room, closing and locking the door behind her, leaving me alone in the hallway. I stood there for a moment, trying to understand what had just happened, then showed myself out.

When I got back to my own bedroom, I flopped down onto my bed and closed my eyes, grinning uncontrollably. Princess Sofia wanted to go out with me. She had let me kiss her, and had kissed me back. I blinked and shook my head to make sure I wasn't dreaming. It didn't seem possible. I had never been so happy in my entire life.


	6. Episode 6: An Accident

I usually waited for Sofia to get here before I started warming up, but she was running late this morning, so I had already pulled my shoes off and started stretching. By the time I was halfway through with limbering up, she came jogging in, panting for breath, looking as though she hadn't slept since I left her yesterday. I stood up and hurried to meet her. "Sofia?"

She practically collapsed into my arms and gasped, "I'm so sorry I'm late, Hugo."

I didn't give horse's shoe that she was late. She looked half dead! "Sofia, what's wrong?"

"I-I just overslept…" Her blue eyes avoided meeting mine. I glanced past her at Minimus, and my fears were confirmed when I saw her faithful purple horse panting heavily, missing more than a few feathers, and thoroughly exhausted. Something was very wrong.

I ducked my head to try and meet her gaze, "Sofia…"

"Please don't ask me." She looked on the verge of tears. I couldn't handle her tears again.

"Okay." I held both hands up in surrender, then pulled her close. "I won't." I slid one arm around her waist, and pulled her forward to kiss her when Sofia suddenly drew a gasp of pain and tried to hide a wince. I released her instantly. "Did I hurt you?"

"No!" she yelped, throwing one hand up in protest, while the other went to hold her side. I frowned at her blatant lie, and she sighed. "I mean, you're not the reason it hurt."

"What? What happened?"

Sofia still wouldn't look at me. "I fell…off Minimus." She let out a breath. "And I broke a rib…or two."

My jaw slacked. "Oh, my god. _Two?_ "

The princess hung her head. "I'm so sorry, Hugo."

"Are you in much pain? I have ice packs and painkillers, and wait, what are you sorry for?" I stopped short on my concern to stare at her in confusion.

"I'm not going to be able to practice for at least a week while my ribs heal."

I scoffed. "You're not setting blade on the ice for at least two weeks, Princess."

Sofia looked at me, confused. "Huh?"

I shook my head. "Sofia, your health is way more important than any amount of practice time. Take as long as you need to heal." What were a few weeks to keep her safe when we had a year to prepare for the DOWGs?

She gave me a look that I didn't recognize. "Thanks, Hugo."

My mind was still a little more occupied by the fact that my princess had two broken bones. And she acted as though she were in no pain at all. How was she even out of bed? Although, from the look of her, she hadn't been to bed at all. I needed to get her off her feet. I cleared my throat.

"Why don't we go inside and watch a movie or something? Have you eaten?" My hands twitched to wrap an arm around her waist and support her weight for her, but I was terrified to touch her for fear of hurting her again.

My princess shook her head at my second question. "I didn't have time this morning…"

That was all I could take. I gingerly took her hand and led her into the castle, depositing her on a plush couch in the back parlor. Before I sat down next to her, I grabbed the TV remote and pressed the bell to summon our royal steward. Once a hot breakfast was on the way, I scooted up next to Sofia and turned on the TV.

"What are you in the mood for? _Aladdin? Tangled?"_

 _"Tangled."_

I scrolled through the list on the screen. " _Sword in the Stone, Tall Tale…_ aha. _Tangled."_ The lights in the movie room automatically dimmed when the movie began.

As we watched Rapunzel make her escape from the tower, the steward returned with our breakfast, and we ate in silence, watching the movie. At Eugene's confession in the water-filled cave, I stole a glance over at Sofia. Her eyes were rimmed with dark circles, her hair was sloppily pulled into a ponytail, and she ate her breakfast as if it were her first meal in a week. I told her I wouldn't ask about it, but I was starting to get seriously worried about her.

When she finished eating, she leaned back into the couch, her eyes glassy as they stared at the flying lanterns floating across the screen. Before long they fluttered closed, and her breathing slowed. When her body relaxed, however, she could no longer stay upright, and slid gracefully along the back of the couch until her head landed on my shoulder.

Sofia stayed there only for a minute, though. My shoulders are bony. So she looked up at me sleepily, and then dropped her head into my lap. My whole body stiffened, frozen in place as she made herself comfortable with her face across my thighs and closed her eyes again. I watched her sleep for a moment, then looked back up at the screen. No way I would wake her up. She could sleep there as long as she wanted.


	7. Episode 7: The Confrontation

The movie ended, and Sofia was still fast asleep, so I just grabbed the remote and put on _Pirates of the Caribbean_. When that ended and my princess still hadn't stirred, I hesitated. On the one hand, I really didn't want to move and wake Sofia; on the other, I could no longer feel my right leg and I really needed to use the bathroom. Finally, and with extreme caution, I slid a pillow under her angelic curls and lifted her head off my lap just enough for me to scoot out from under her. Laying her head back down on the couch, I limped down the hall.

Sofia was still asleep when I got back, her eyes dancing behind her eyelids. I watched her face and wondered what she was dreaming about. What secret thoughts went on in the mind of my princess? Did she dream of me like I dreamt of her?

Suddenly, her body tensed in her sleep. I frowned. The motion of her eyes sped up, her brow furrowed, and in panic I rushed forward and grasped her by the arm. "Sofia, wake up!"

Her sapphire eyes flew open in stark terror and she jerked out of my hands. For a long second we just stared at each other, but then Sofia realized that she had been dreaming and fell into my arms with a sigh of relief. I embraced her gently, remembering her broken ribs. "It's okay now," I whispered into her hair, matted from being slept on.

"Oh, Hugo…"

God, I loved the way my name sounded when she said it.

Sofia looked up at me. "Is the movie over?" I chuckled, and she frowned at me. "What?"

"Yeah," I laughed. "Both movies are over."

"Two movies?" she asked. I nodded. "What time is it?"

I checked the clock on the wall. "One thirty."

Her face turned the most adorable shade of red. "I'm so sorry, Hugo, I didn't realize I was that tired."

"It's not a big deal. I just wish you'd tell me what's going on."

Sofia tensed. "W-what do you mean?" She tried to look innocent, but my princess had never been a very good liar.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Like why you have two broken ribs and act like you haven't slept since yesterday? And just now I woke you up because it looked like you were having a nightmare!" Part of me wondered if it had something to do with her amulet doing the weird blue glow that she said meant she had to go, right away. If the amulet was hurting her somehow, I would have to convince her to get rid of it. I ducked my head to try and meet her eyes, but she turned away. "Sofia, please. I'm worried about you."

Finally, she lifted her eyes to meet mine. The expression of helpless pleading in those twinkling blue orbs froze my veins. "Hugo," she whispered. I leaned forward. Sofia rested her forehead against mine and closed her eyes. "I wish I could tell you."

"Why can't you?" I asked incredulously. What on earth could she not tell me?

She sighed. "I learned a long time ago that this burden is one I have to carry alone."

"Burden?" I was genuinely scared now. "It has something to do with the amulet, doesn't it? When it turned blue yesterday?"

The fear in her eyes told me I was right. Sofia turned her head to avoid looking at me, despite how much I leaned around to try and maintain eye contact. "Please tell me what's going on."

"I'm sorry Hugo," she said without looking back at me. "But…well, the last time I told someone about my amulet, really bad things happened. I can't risk that again."

Really bad things? I felt sick. I hadn't wanted to be right about the amulet causing her problems, but it looked like that was the case. "If that amulet is hurting you, Sofia, you need to take it off."

"No!" Her hands flew to her neck and she looked at me with shock and desperation. "The amulet doesn't _hurt_ me, Hugo, I promise. It's just…my destiny is hard one. Sometimes I miss some sleep, or break my ribs, but it's part of what it means to be me."

I stared at her. It wasn't like her to talk in riddles. "What do you mean, your destiny? What destiny?"

Sofia looked away from me again, and crossed her arms over her soft, white chest. "I've already said too much. Just forget it, okay?"

Forget it? "No way. I'm not going to let anything hurt you, not even that amulet." I gently took her face in my hands and turned her to face me, forcing her to meet my gaze. The pleading in her eyes melted my heart, and I stammered. "Sofia." I had no other words, so I just leaned forward and kissed my princess, as if I could just love her enough to make all of her problems go away. God, her lips hit harder than my father's fifteen-year whiskey. It took all my strength to pull away and finish my sentence.

"You don't have to bear anything alone anymore. You have me."

Her sapphire eyes glittered, and slowly her mouth turned up into a smile. "Really?"

I nodded, and leaned my forehead against hers. "Really. I'm here for you no matter what, okay?"

The soft sigh that escaped her lips brushed my mouth, which hovered an inch away from hers. I felt her smile. "Okay," she whispered, then closed the gap between us with another long, hot kiss. Her arms looped around my neck and pulled me, rather forcefully, toward her. Yanked off balance, I clumsily managed to fall on the couch without crushing her. I tried to sit up to kiss her again, but she pinned me down and leaned over me. I shivered when her hair brushed my face.

Neither of us said anything, but our eyes met, I raised a single eyebrow, she gave me a mischievous smile, and dove to meet my lips again.


	8. Episode 8: Sofia's Confession

I have no idea how long we stayed locked together like that, Sofia's lips relentlessly assaulting mine, as if she couldn't get enough. Of course I was more than happy to oblige her, and eagerly returned each kiss with one of my own. It was heaven, hidden behind a curtain of her auburn hair; her lips were as soft as rose petals, and I would be lying if I said I didn't get a thrill out of knowing I was the first one to kiss them.

Finally, Sofia tired leaning over me and relaxed into my chest instead. As I wrapped my arms around her I glanced down to notice the huge, dopey smile plastered across her face, and I knew that my expression mirrored hers exactly. What was there not to smile about? The princess of my dreams wanted me back, and on top of that she was a fantastic kisser.

It took several minutes for my head to clear, but when it did I remembered what we had been talking about before, about her amulet and her broken ribs. Cautiously, I leaned down and kissed her forehead. "So can we talk now?"

After a long pause, Sofia sighed. "Do you promise not to freak out?"

I chuckled confidently. "When do I ever freak out?"

Sofia sat up and gave me a look. My face turned red and I grinned. We both knew that I freaked out pretty often when there was a crisis in my life. I had walked off the derby course when I was ten, lied to my dad about ice dancing when I was eleven, and before almost every competition I had a small freakout thinking I wasn't prepared enough. But I shook my head. "This time I really won't, I promise."

She looked at me seriously for a minute. "The last time I told someone about the amulet, they stole it from me."

"Well, I don't think that shade of purple would go with my eyes, so you're safe there."

"That's not why they took it."

"I'm not going to take it from you."

Finally, she sighed. "Okay, here goes. It's called the Amulet of Avalor, and it's magical and very powerful. It gives me powers when I do good deeds, but it also called me to become the next Storykeeper, which is a really hard job."

That was a lot to take in. "Woah, slow down." I needed more time to process each part of what she had just told me. "It gives you powers?"

"Uh huh. But only when I do good deeds. Those are the rules. And if I do bad deeds the amulet curses me until I make up for what I did."

"The amulet has rules?"

" _With each deed performed, for better or worse, a power is granted, a blessing or curse."_

That seemed like the perfect kind of enchantment for my princess; she did more good deeds than anyone I knew. "So what sort of powers does it give you?"

"Well, the first one is I can talk to animals."

"Really? That's so cool!" That explained the way she seemed to hold conversations with her horse during derby practice. "What things do they say?"

She actually smiled at my reaction. "You're not jealous?"

"Why would I be jealous? If you only get powers by doing good deeds, then you must have earned it. Besides, I hang out with you all the time. If I need to talk to an animal, you'll be right there to translate." I leaned up and kissed the tip of her nose, which made her giggle.

"So do animals understand humans when we talk to them?"

"Yep."

"So I should apologize to Electra for the one time I called her slow?" I had been thirteen when I said it, but somehow I always felt that she had actually heard me and been hurt by it.

Sofia giggled and shook her head. "She doesn't hold that against you. You were upset."

"Oh, good." It took me a minute to realize that Sofia hadn't been there when it happened. "Did she tell you about it?"

She nodded. "She loves you a lot, and it hurt her feelings, but everybody says things they don't mean when they're upset. Electra knows that, and she knows how important that race was to you."

I smiled involuntarily. Electra had always been a good horse, and hearing that she loved me as much as I had loved her over the years was a good feeling. Eventually I returned to my original train of thought and asked about the second portion of her tale. "What's a Storykeeper?"

Sofia took a breath. "This one is going to take a little bit longer to explain. When I was nine, the amulet led me to a place called the Secret Library, which is filled with books. Every book is the story of an actual person, and most of them don't have endings yet. My job as Storykeeper is to find whoever the book is about and help them finish their story."

I squinted, as if it would help me understand what she was talking about. It didn't. It just made my brain hurt. "So the books…are people's lives?"

She shrugged. "I guess you could say that. It's the story of their life."

"And you do what exactly?"

"I help them finish their story. I get them to their 'happily ever after' at the end of the book."

"By doing what?"

Sofia made a vague gesture. "Every story is different, but usually I help them with some obstacle that they can't surmount by themselves, or help them learn a hard lesson."

"Is that what you were doing when you fell off Minimus? Helping someone finish their story?"

For a second she looked confused. "Oh, when I broke my ribs. Yes."

I frowned at her, and she looked away guiltily. "That's not really how you broke them, is it?" I asked. She gently shook her head against my chest. "What really happened?"

Normally I would think that sheepish grin was adorable, but this time it scared me. "I-I was distracting somebody so my friend could escape…"

"And?"

"She made it."

"Your ribs, Sofia."

"The guard, he… kicked me."

"Hard enough to break your ribs?"

"Uh-huh…"

I could feel every vein in my body suddenly turn to ice. Someone had struck my princess. Had hurt her, broken her. How could anyone dare to touch such a precious and beautiful girl? Could they not see how special she was? "D-do you get hurt a lot when you're finishing people's stories?"

Sofia shrugged. "Not usually. I'm pretty careful. But it's kind of inherent with the job."

"Being a Storykeeper is that dangerous?"

"It's nothing I can't handle." The confidence in her voice was almost comforting, but no amount of reassurance could make me worry less. My princess held me tighter. "I'm fine, I promise. I'm more than up to this."

I was still scared stiff, but I knew there was nothing I could do or say to change her mind if she was set on being Storykeeper. All I could do was wrap my arms around her as tightly as I could and keep her here with me, where I knew I could keep her safe.


	9. Episode 9: Our First Date Pt 1

The following Friday evening, just like I had promised, I was standing in the foyer of Enchancia castle, waiting to pick Sofia up for our first official date. I wore my best suit, and had spent way too long in front of the mirror making sure I looked my absolute best for the night, but I was still scared to death. James watched me as I paced in little nervous circles on the rug while we waited for Sofia to come downstairs. He seemed to find my anxiety amusing.

"Dude, you guys have been friends forever. You hang out together every single day. Why are you freaking out about seeing her now?"

I stopped to try and explain to him, but I hardly understood how I was feeling myself. "It isn't the same this time," I said finally.

James didn't seem to understand. Of course, he had never been in my situation. James was always too busy with sports and his royal duties to have time to date. Being the crowned prince took up a lot of his time. "It's not like you're even new at this sort of thing," he commented. "You were like, the master of romance with Hildegarde."

It was true. To impress Princess Hildegarde, I had to be more charming than Cinderella's husband. That princess had been unfazed by flying carpets and dancing elephants when she was only ten years old, and every time I took her out I had to top what I had done the last time. The dates I had come up with for me and Hildy would fill a small book, each tale more extravagant than the last. I sighed and shook my head.

"But Sofia isn't Hildegarde. She's…" I couldn't think of a word to accurately describe my princess. "She's completely different. I can't even compare Hildy to Sofia. I've never met a princess like her, I—what?!" James was watching me with a huge grin on his face.

"You've really got it bad this time, don't you?" he asked.

I felt blood rush to my cheeks and I nodded silently. James' eyes flickered to the top of the stairs and my stomach erupted in butterflies, but it was Amber coming to greet us, not Sofia. I wilted. The tall blonde hurried down the stairs with an excited grin that matched the one on her twin brother's face.

"She's ready!" Amber announced proudly. She had probably helped Sofia pick out everything she was wearing, and done her hair, too. Sofia's older sister was always the more fashion-forward of the two, and loved to help style Sofia's hair and costumes for our ice dancing competitions.

But nothing could have prepared me for the vision that appeared at the top of the stairs.

Twenty-four hours a day, eight days a week, Sofia was a knockout. She was the most beautiful princess I had ever seen, whether she was in her usual lavender gown, her flying derby jersey, even just sweatpants. But the young woman standing at the top of the stairs was something worthy of Disney's big screen.

Sofia was dressed in gold, her full-skirted ball gown replaced by a slender silhouette that hugged her amazing curves. Her soft auburn hair was held away from her face by a glittering tiara, spilling in shining curls down her back, with diamonds dangling from her ears. The only thing familiar about her appearance was the amulet around her neck.

She started down the stairs, and high-heeled shoes peeked out from under the hem of the dress, which—oh god—it had a slit that went past her knee. Those legs. My heart fluttered. I had never seen a more beautiful woman in my entire life.

When Sofia reached the bottom of the stairs, she smiled her incredible smile at me. "Hi," she said simply.

I couldn't stop blatantly staring at her. It was all I could do to keep my mouth from hanging open. "Guh...—uh, hi." I cleared my throat awkwardly. "Hey. You—uh," my voice cracked. Talking was practically impossible. "You look great."

She giggled and clasped her hands in front of her, which squeezed her chest together, which almost made me die on the spot. "Thanks," she said. "You do, too."

It isn't hard to look good in a suit, but I grinned and tried to laugh. "Heh. Thanks." I swallowed. "Are you ready to go?" I had borrowed Axle's custom flying coach for the night, after promising my right arm as collateral should anything happen to it. My brother loved that carriage more than my father loved hockey.

My princess approached me and took my arm. "Yeah. Let's go." Her touch made me shiver.

I stole a glance at James and Amber. He was watching me seriously, but Amber was grinning excitedly. Somehow I had the feeling that when Sofia got home from our date, her sister would be waiting for her and ready to hear every single detail of the evening.

Finally, I turned my attention back to Sofia. To the glorious angel on my arm, the beautiful woman who was going out with me tonight. This night had to be absolutely perfect. "This way, princess." As I helped her into the flying coach, she asked, "Where are we going?"

I chuckled. "Let's just say it's a surprise."


	10. Episode 10: Our First Date Pt 2

The ride to our planned destination was a short one, but it was long enough for Sofia to slide up next to me in the driver's seat. Suddenly it became very difficult to concentrate on driving Axle's flying coach. I could feel her breath on the side of my neck as she rested her chin on my shoulder, and it sent shivers down my spine. But there was no way I was gonna ask her to move.

It took us a little longer than I had hoped for us to reach our spot, but we made it there in time. I landed the carriage at the top of a tiny waterfall that fell into a deep cavern below us. I helped Sofia out onto the grass, then hurried to spread a thick, plush picnic blanket on the ground.

"Here you are, my princess," I said, suavely helping Sofia sit on the blanket so she would have the best view. Once she was seated, I ran back to the coach and pulled a picnic basket out of the trunk. The sun was just above the horizon. We still had time.

Opening the basket, I handed Sofia a champagne flute. Once she had taken it, I popped the cork on the bottle and filled her glass, and another for myself. "Cheers," I said, holding out my glass for a toast.

Sofia was examining her glass. "Is this real champagne?" she asked.

"Of course it is," I replied. "The very best champagne."

"I—I've never had real alcohol before."

It was so difficult to remember she was sixteen. "You don't have to drink it."

She looked at me with something in her eyes I couldn't place. "No, I'll try it. One glass can't hurt, right?"

I smiled. "Right. I'll stop you if I think you've had too much."

My princess smiled back at me and clinked my glass. "Cheers." She raised the flute to her lips timidly and took a small sip. The face she made was so cute. "Ugh, you can drink this?" she asked.

I laughed as I downed half of my glass in the first swig. "Believe me, this is mild compared to what I usually drink." I'd been plundering my dad's whiskey cellars since I was fifteen, when Axle showed me how he always got in. Father never said anything about it, although we were both pretty sure that he knew that we drank his whiskey, because the barrels to which we helped ourselves never seemed to run empty.

Sofia made another face. "Ick, I've smelled that stuff you drink. No thank you."

I shrugged. "I mean, champagne is kind of dry, but I thought it would be fitting for our first date. It's a pretty special occasion, you know?" I leaned over and kissed her cheek gently.

My princess blushed and giggled, which sent thrills down my spine. To know I was the one who made her feel like that, who gave her butterflies, to be the person that she got all dressed up to go out with, it was the best feeling in the world.

As I got out the rest of the picnic, Sofia sipped at her champagne and looked around. The place where we sat was covered in lush green grass, but less than thirty feet from our blanket, the ground gave way to a gigantic dropoff into the mouth of the cave. The opening was covered in vines with tiny blue flowers. "This spot is beautiful," she commented.

I grinned. "The best part hasn't even started yet."

Her sapphire eyes glanced over at me. "What's the best part?"

Calmly, I continued to set out our food and silverware. "Just wait."

As we sat there, the sun continued to sink below the horizon, until only a tiny sliver of the orange circle was visible. I reached over and took Sofia's hand, looking toward the mouth of the cavern below us. She looked up at me, then scooted up next to me so she could lean against me. Her body felt so warm against mine.

Finally, the last bit of the sun disappeared below the horizon. I leaned in to whisper in Sofia's ear, "Now's the best part."

While the sky was still bright with the sun's rays, the flowers at the cavern entrance suddenly became alive with movement. The sky vibrated as millions of tiny wings beat the air, and a massive column of midnight-blue butterflies erupted from the cave. Each little blue flower had been a butterfly, waiting for the sun to set so they could leave the cave in the safety of the twilight. They soared into the sky above us, whirling in huge circles in the fading light. Sofia gasped.

"Hugo…" Her beautiful blue eyes were wide with wonder, and they reflected the blue of the butterflies' wings. She leaned further against me, and I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. I could feel her heart racing as she watched the millions of wings fill the sky.

"Hugo, this is incredible," she breathed. I felt her head turn, and looked down to see her staring up at me.

I grinned down at her. "You like it?"

Her eyes flickered to my mouth again. "I…I love it, Hugo."

That word. Something behind my stomach fluttered, something in my brain gave out, and instinct took hold. I leaned down and kissed my princess, the most beautiful woman in the entire world, my dreams come true. She tasted like champagne and strawberries, and I could feel the tiniest bit of give in her kiss that told me the alcohol was kicking in.

Sofia leaned into me. My arm that was around her shoulders found its way to her waist. God, she was so soft. Giving into my temptations just a tiny bit, I gently pulled her into my lap, being mindful of her broken ribs. She made herself comfortable there, looping her arms around my neck and gently parting her lips against mine.

I felt the heat from her tongue against my bottom lip, and the effect was immediate. Blood rushed to my head so quickly I almost blacked out. Somehow I instinctively opened my own mouth to allow her access. The tongue that slipped into my mouth was tiny and hot, and oddly nimble. Every flick and curl sent electric jolts through my entire body. Her movements were inexperienced but unafraid, and Sofia pushed against my shoulders until I tipped backwards, and she was on top of me again.

There was no mistaking her intentions now as she pressed herself against me. 'Oh my god' was all I could think for several seconds, my body compulsively obeying her every touch, giving her complete control. But when she broke the kiss and raised her head to look at me, her cheeks were a little too flushed, and her smile was a little too bold.

"Sofia?" I reached up to brush an auburn curl out of her face. "I think you're a little tipsy."

She giggled. "I'm positive I'm a little tipsy."

I couldn't believe what I was about to say, but I said it. "Then maybe we should stop. For now."

God, I hated seeing that smile disappear. She was definitely buzzed. "Why?" she asked indignantly.

"Champagne can affect your judgement, Sofia."

My princess laughed and shook her head. "I know exactly what I want, Hugo." She trailed one finger down my chest, making me shiver with sensation.

I caught her hand before she got too close to my belt. "Slow down, princess. This is just our first date." It was painfully difficult to have to stop her when she seemed so eager, but I had no way of knowing how much of that drive was from the alcohol.

"Don't you want to?" she pushed, subtly leaning her chest into me.

If she only knew. "Of course I do. But," I sat up, gently lifting her out of my lap and setting her next to me so I could face her. "I intend to court you properly. You are a princess, after all. But I can promise you," I leaned into her and cupped her cheek in my hand. "I'll make it worth the wait."

Sofia grinned softly, and leaned in to kiss me again. This time, I didn't stop her.

I had intended for us to sit and watch the butterflies together, but this was much, much better.


	11. Episode 11: A Talk

As the sky got darker, the butterflies dispersed. Neither of us cared, totally wrapped up in each other, flying on champagne and desire, as close together as we could get. She was so perfect, so warm and soft and inviting. I couldn't believe I got to be here, with her, after all the nights I dreamed about it. But eventually, the air began to cool, and I felt my princess shiver beneath me.

"About ready to head home, Sofia?" I asked, planting a little kiss on her forehead.

She giggled. "No."

I had to admit that I didn't want to leave, either. But James would kill me if I didn't get Sofia home soon, and Axel would kill me if I didn't get his coach home, too. Sofia shivered again and I pulled off my jacket to wrap around her shoulders. "Come on." I helped her up and got her seated in the carriage, then packed up our picnic and tossed it in the trunk.

By the time I managed to hop into the driver's seat, she had already moved so she could sit next to me. Knowing how much she wanted to be close to me was almost as good a feeling as kissing her. I knew the alcohol had to be wearing off right about now, so I asked her, "How're you feeling, princess?"

Sofia shrugged a little bit, holding my jacket around her. "I'm not dizzy anymore."

"Good." I flicked the reigns and the carriage took off into the sky. "The point of the night wasn't to get you drunk."

"I wasn't drunk," she protested. "Just a little buzzed."

Trying to hide my grin as I kissed her cheek, I affirmed, "Of course."

The sarcasm in my voice didn't escape her and she pouted at me, sticking that adorable bottom lip out. "I wasn't! It was just one glass of champagne."

"You tried to seduce me, princess."

She gave me a look I didn't recognize. "So?"

I turned to look at her. "'So'? Why is that not a big deal to you?"

She shrugged, leaning her head against my shoulder as I drove. "I'm sixteen, Hugo," she said.

"You're also a princess."

"Why do you keep saying that? What does being a princess have to do with anything?"

"There's a standard of behavior that royalty is held to, Sofia."

"I'm not the heir. Neither are you."

I was getting frustrated at this point. Turning the coach, I found a flat, isolated spot on the ground and parked so that I could turn to look my princess in the face.

"It isn't about politics, Sofia. Your first time is something very special, and I intend to treat it that way. I don't want you to just throw your body at me." That last statement was a total lie; I wanted nothing more than to take her right here, in the driver's seat of Axel's coach. I had wanted to make love to this beautiful woman for years, but my damned gentleman's instincts wouldn't let me.

My princess was looking at me as if she were very confused. "But I thought you and Hildegarde had already…?"

My face burned red and I looked away. "I said your first time. Not mine."

"So you can sleep with her and not me?"

WHAT? I whirled to face her, shocked and insulted that she would even ask such a question. How could she not see that I was trying to do the right thing? Did she think Hildy was more important to me than she was?

I took Sofia's face in both hands, forcing her to look at me as I spoke to her, very seriously. "Sofia. Never, ever, _ever_ compare yourself to Hildegarde. You mean more to me than she ever did."

She watched me quietly, staring up at me. I longed to just end this conversation with a kiss and move on, but I had more to say.

"Listen to me. I am going to treat you right, whether you like it or not. If you weren't so special to me I wouldn't have turned you down back there. Do you understand?" It wasn't like I was a stranger to being a girl's first time. Hildy and I had both been virgins when we got together, and I had no shortage of village girls ready to give it up to me. But this was different.

Sofia nodded, her cheeks brushing against my hands that still held onto her.

"I will make love to you when it's time, and not a second sooner."

She sighed, but finally let a smile return to her face. "Okay."

Thank god. My stomach finally relaxed, and I gave her a relieved kiss on her delicious mouth. "Okay. Now let's get you home." I turned back to the horses and clicked my tongue, urging them to take to the sky once again.

Back at the castle, just as I had expected, both of the twins were still awake, waiting for me to return home with their little sister. Amber rushed forward to receive Sofia, who was still wearing my coat, and James approached me.

"You two have a good time?" he asked me, under his breath so the girls couldn't hear. The prince raised an eyebrow at me, and I knew what he was really asking.

"Not that good," I responded with a meaningful look. "I'm saving that."

James grinned at me. "Good. Save it for a nice long time, okay?"

With a blush, I replied, "I'll hold off as long as she'll let me. Your sister isn't exactly shy."

At that point Amber assaulted me with a hug. "Oh, you two are the just sweetest couple ever! What a wonderful idea for a first date, taking her to the Butterfly Cavern! How absolutely romantic! Sofia just _loves_ butterflies!" As if I didn't already know that.

I tried to pry myself out of her overdramatic arms while still smiling politely. "Glad you approve, Amber. Will I see you tomorrow, Sofia?" I turned to my princess, who hurried into my arms and kissed my cheek. Amber squealed and James gagged.

"I'll be at the rink at our usual time," Sofia whispered. I gave her a kiss goodbye, then left her with her siblings. I had to get the carriage back before Axel sent out a search party to find it.


	12. Episode 12: The Secret Library

The next day was Saturday, and since we still couldn't practice because of Sofia's ribs, we spent the whole morning laying around and being lazy. It was awesome. The practical part of me in the back of my head told me that I should've been working on my solo routines, but hanging out with my princess was so much more fun. Even when we weren't doing anything at all.

After lunch, though, right as Sofia was starting to fall asleep in my lap, her amulet lit up. I tensed, watching it levitate and turn blue, just like it had before. For a moment, I actually considered not waking Sofia, and hoping it would go away. What could the amulet possibly need from her now? Hadn't it harmed her enough?

"Sofia…"

She blinked lazily awake and looked up at me. Then she looked down at her neck and cursed. That ugly word didn't sound right coming out of my princess's mouth, regardless of the fact that I used the same word all the time.

"I have to go," she said, rubbing her eyes as she sat up. I caught her by the wrist.

"Wait. You're still hurt from the last time!"

The way she looked back at me, I knew she knew I was right. She sighed. "It doesn't matter. When the Library calls me, I have to go."

I refused to loosen my grip, no matter how hard my princess tried to escape. "No. It isn't safe."

"Hugo!" She tried to push me away. "I have to go!"

Something in my head clicked and I stood up, without letting go of her arm. "Fine. Then I'm coming with you."

"What?!" She pulled harder against me. "You can't!"

"I'm not letting you put yourself in danger again without me there to look out for you."

The look she gave me almost made me lose my grip. Eventually, she sighed. "Fine. But we have to go now. Come on!" I let her drag me to the door, and we raced to the stable to saddle up.

"The Library's calling, Minimus! Hyah!" Her horse seemed to understand how urgent a call from the Library was, because he took off like a shot. Electra and I could barely keep up with the two of them as they flew full speed all the way back to Enchancia Castle, but to my surprise, instead of heading for the stables, Minimus circled the castle and headed for the caves beneath it.

Once we were underground, we dismounted and Sofia took my hand. "This way." She dragged me through a tunnel and into what looked like a secret passage. Her amulet glowed brighter so we could see where we were going. At the bottom of some stairs she led me to a small silver boat floating in an underground river. Before we boarded, Sofia hurried to a little cupboard on one wall and grabbed a change of clothes.

When we sat down in the boat, it started to move on its own, and Sofia started to change into her other outfit. I struggled internally on whether to watch, like I wanted to, or allow her some privacy. Ever the reluctant gentleman, I turned my head.

There was plenty to distract me on the banks of the river. Representations of past Disney princess movies appeared on either side of us, progressing from the earliest princess, Snow White, to the most recent ones, Elsa and Anna. By the time we floated through the Frozen section of the river, I looked around and Sofia was dressed again. Her outfit now was a rather rogueish purple suit, with striped lapels and a bow tie. My princess was beautiful all the time, but now she looked quite the adventurer.

"Wow," I commented.

She nodded. "Yeah, that's what I said the first time the amulet brought me here."

I shook my head and chuckled. "I was talking about you, princess." I leaned over and kissed her cheek gently, and was rewarded with a shiver.

The boat stopped moving at the bottom of a staircase, and we hurried up the steps to a huge locked door. Sofia produced a tiny blue book from the pocket of her jacket and slid it into the keyhole. The doors rolled open, revealing a room filled with more books than I'd ever seen. Sofia wasted no time and hurried to sit down on a bench that faced an odd blue structure with a spade-shaped window in the middle. She motioned for me to sit down next to her, as the books on the walls started to vibrate.

"What's going on?" I asked in a whisper.

"The Library is selecting the Story I'm finishing today."

Eventually a book flew out of the shelves and floated down to us. The cover was a picture of a beautiful dark-haired girl surrounded by eleven white swans. It hovered there for a second, then flew to the top of the blue thing we were facing. The spade-shaped window became an image of the cover of the book, and a smooth masculine voice announced from nowhere, "The Tale of Elisa and the Wild Swans."

Sofia didn't seem fazed by any of this, so I tried not to freak out and to just keep up as best I could. It seemed that this spade-thing was going to give us our mission.

"Once upon a time," the voice began, "The princess Elisa lived in a castle with her father and eleven older brothers. But when her father remarried, their stepmother was jealous of the king's children, so she used black magic to turn all eleven of Elisa's brothers into eleven wild swans, who all flew away."

Sofia watched the screen seriously, absorbing all the information she could.

"Elisa ran away from her wicked stepmother, to try and find her brothers and bring them back. When she found them, however, they could not return with her, for they were doomed to remain swans whenever the sun remained above the horizon. Only at night could they return to their true forms.

"A fairy queen told Elisa of a way to break the spell, but it would not be easy. 'In the dead of night,' the fairy said, 'go to a graveyard and pick the stinging nettles that grow there. Pick them with your bare hands, and then stomp them into flax with your bare feet. Weave this flax into eleven long-sleeved shirts for your brothers, and when you have finished, throw them over the swans, and they will be freed of the curse and become princes once again. But,' the fairy said, 'You must not speak a single word from the moment you begin until you throw the shirts over your brothers, or the magic will be lost, and they will remain swans for ever and ever.'"

I frowned. I had had a chance encounter with stinging nettles as a kid, and I still remembered how much those plants hurt. To pick enough for eleven sweaters with her bare hands, this girl must have blisters all over the place. But the narrator still wasn't finished.

"While Elisa was gathering the nettles, a prince rode by on his horse." The spade-shaped window showed an image of the prince, and I squinted a little.

"Is that Derek?" A grade younger than me, Derek had always considered me his biggest competition, and was currently enjoying life as a senior at Royal Prep, following James around like a faithful dog.

Sofia nodded. "For some reason the Library tends to send me to finish stories that involve someone I know."

The narrator continued. "The two looked at each other and fell instantly in love. The prince took Elisa back to his castle to be his bride, and Elisa took her nettles with her. She couldn't speak to him, but he loved her anyway."

I snickered. "A girl who can't talk? No wonder Derek likes her so much." Sofia elbowed me, but when I glanced over at her, she was grinning, too.

"The palace bishop, however, was suspicious of Elisa's strange silence, and her nettle shirts. He told the king that he suspected the princess of witchcraft. At the trial, Elisa could say nothing in her defense without dooming her brothers, and so she allowed herself to be convicted, and sits in the dungeons of the castle to this day, still working tirelessly on her brothers' shirts." The window went dark.

Sofia stood up. "Come on, we've got to go talk to Derek." She grabbed my hand and pulled me back toward the door. I followed her, a tiny bubble of dread building up in my stomach. We were on our way to confront Derek and his father about a princess accused of witchcraft. What could possibly go wrong?


	13. Episode 13: Derek and Elisa

It was actually a bit of a ride to get to Derek's kingdom, but Sofia didn't let up the pace for a second. When we finally landed, she grabbed my hand and dragged me through the palace to the throne room. She only slowed down when Derek was in sight. He was pacing, wringing his hands, and looking absolutely miserable.

"Derek!" Sofia called as we ran up to him.

"Sofia? Hugo? What are you guys doing here?"

"We need to talk to you about Elisa."

The prince stared at us. "How do you know about her?"

Sofia shook her head. "That's not important. What's important is that she's innocent."

Derek's shoulders drooped. "I know that. But, my dad…"

"Once we tell him what's really going on, I'm sure he'll let her go."

"What _is_ really going on?"

Sofia took a breath. "Her brothers are cursed, and the sweaters she's making will undo it. She has to complete all eleven sweaters without speaking a word or they'll be cursed forever!" She explained in a rush. Derek stared at her. The silence started to get uncomfortable. Finally, Sofia sighed. "Look, if you don't believe me, take me to her and see."

Derek sighed. "All right. If you can help her, I don't care how crazy your story is. Come on." He turned and led us down several flights of stairs to the dungeons of the castle. In one of the cells sat a girl of about seventeen, with dark brown hair spilling over her shoulders in wild tangles. As I had suspected, both her hands and her feet were covered in layer upon layer of blisters. I cringed a little. Those might never heal completely.

When we walked in, Elisa looked up, and when she saw Derek, she hurried to the door of her cell. He went to meet her and reached through the bars to touch her face. "Elisa, these people are my friends. They're here to help."

The princess didn't need to speak for us to see the desperation on her face. Silently, I glanced into her cell. There were ten full sweaters neatly folded in one corner, and an unfinished one, the last one, on her chair, as if she had been working on it when we came down. Sofia came up to the door and spoke quietly to her. "Hi, Elisa. I'm Sofia. We know what the sweaters are for."

Elisa stared at us in shock, then a spark of hope glinted in her eye.

"The sweaters are for your brothers, right?"

Elisa nodded vigorously. Derek watched both of them closely. I felt a little useless, so I glanced around to make sure no one else was listening in. But there weren't even any other prisoners to hear us.

Sofia persisted. "It'll break the curse and turn them back into princes, right?"

More nodding. Derek frowned. "Turn them back into princes? What are they now?"

A cloud of sadness passed over Elisa's face, and Sofia answered for her, "They're wild swans." She nodded in sad affirmation. If Derek had been confused before, he was bewildered now.

"And if she speaks even one word, the magic won't work and they'll be swans forever!"

Derek looked to Elisa to confirm that this was the truth, and the tears in the princess's eyes said more than enough. He looked from Elisa, to Sofia, to me. "We have to get my dad." With that we were all running back upstairs, and I was beginning to wonder if we were going to run everywhere we went until we finished this story.

"Dad!" Derek didn't wait for the steward to allow him access to his father's study, but barged right in, yelling. "Dad, Elisa's innocent!"

The king seemed to have been having a conference with the bishop. They both looked up with no small degree of annoyance. But Derek didn't care. He was so excited to know that his princess wasn't guilty that he had thrown his manners to the wind and was ready to demand her release.

"What are you talking about, son?" the king asked, glaring at the prince.

"Elisa. My fiancé. She's innocent."

The king rubbed his wrinkled forehead. "Yes, I heard you, Derek. What I mean is how do you know she's innocent?"

Derek motioned to us. "Princess Sofia explained everything. Elisa is just trying to save her brothers."

Both the king and the bishop eyed the two of us suspiciously. "Save her brothers?" the bishop repeated. "From what?"

"She's trying to undo a curse that turned them into wild swans!" Sofia exclaimed. "That's why she can't speak, it would undo the magic and her brothers will be swans forever!"

The bishop gasped in revulsion. "So there is sorcery involved."

Derek flinched. "She's just trying to lift the curse!"

"Through the use of more magic!" The bishop glowered at us, then turned to the king. "I warned you that this woman was a sorceress, your majesty. It is as we feared."

"No! She's working to undo the magic!" Derek looked frightened.

"I'm afraid that doesn't excuse her own use of black magic," the king responded gravely. "There is only one course of action available to us now."

"What are you going to do to her?" Derek asked, the color quickly draining from his face.

Both men looked at him very seriously. "I'm sorry, son," the king said. "The witch must be burned at the stake."

"WHAT?!" all three of us screamed at the same time. Derek slammed a fist down onto his father's desk. "No! You can't take her away from me. Father, please!"

"There's nothing I can do, Derek. It's the law."

"You're the king, for god's sake, you make the laws!" Tears spilled over Derek's cheeks as he got more and more desperate. "You can't kill her, you just can't, why won't you believe me, she's innocent!" His knees started to give out and he leaned against the desk as the sobs started to overwhelm his begging. Sofia was oddly still, as if she were lost in thought instead of caught up in Derek's grief.

The bishop watched pitilessly as the prince hit his knees, then glanced back at the king. "I will inform the executioner. As for these two," he looked at us. "I don't trust them. They might be in league with the witch."

Derek looked past him from the ground and locked eyes with Sofia. She nodded subtly. He gritted his teeth.

"Your majesty, I suggest you take these two into custody until—hey!" Derek had tackled the bishop from behind and pinned him to the ground.

"Sofia, Hugo, get help. Find her brothers. Save her!"

Sofia had me by the wrist and was dragging me back out into the hall before I even had time to process what was going on. We bolted to the door, but the king called for help from his study, and the royal guard were behind us in no time. I glanced backward. "Run, Sofia!" I made sure to run just slowly enough to stay behind her, to keep myself in between my princess and the guards chasing us.

We made it outside with the guards on our heels, and when we skidded to a stop in front of the horses, they were upon us. Sofia screamed when one of them grabbed her arm, trying to pull her away from Minimus.

I had heard Sofia scream out of excitement, and out of joy, but never out of fear. The sound touched something in my core, and my blood started to boil. "Let go of her!" I barked, slamming my right fist into the guard's jaw. He dropped her arm and staggered. "Go, Sofia! Go!" I ordered her, both fists up, buying her enough time to get saddled up and airborne. As soon as Minimus's hooves left the ground I made a dash for Electra. Once I got one foot in a stirrup I yelled "Hyah!" and swung my leg over in midair as we made our escape.

"We have to find Elisa's brothers!" Sofia called.

"Where do we look?"

"The cover of the book showed the swans on a beach."

Derek's kingdom bordered on the ocean in only one spot. "Head southeast!" I cried. We both urged our horses to fly as quickly as possible.

"I hope we can find them in time," Sofia murmured.

[Author's Note: Hey guys, updates are gonna start to take a little longer. I just started my Master's program and it's taking up a lot of my time! I promise I'm not gone forever and I won't leave you hanging any longer than I have to. I love all of you, and thanks for the amazing feedback and support!]


	14. Episode 14: A Miracle

It was high tide by the time we got to the beach, and most of the rocks were covered by the surf. There was only a tiny strip of land between the waves and the cliffs. At first, I could see no sign of life at all. The shoreline was rocky and bare. We started at one end of the strand and flew along the edge of the cliff. Suddenly, Sofia pulled up short.

"There!" She pointed to a series of tiny ledges on the side of the bluff. Little white blurs sat in the shadows of the rocks. "The swans!"

We dove toward the cliffs, then hovered while Sofia called out to the birds, who were huddled behind their wings to protect themselves from the crashing surf.

"Excuse me," Sofia asked, "Are you Elisa's brothers?"

Several of the swans turned to look up at her, and honked loudly.

"You have to come with me! The bishop and the king want to burn your sister at the stake! We have to stop them!"

All eleven swans gave a horrified honk, and beat their wings furiously against the air as they all took to the skies at once. It was actually a bit intimidating being in the middle of them. Swans are large birds, and having eleven of them all around us, all honking and flapping madly, was pretty overwhelming.

Sofia didn't seem fazed at all. "Follow me!" she shouted, and wheeled Minimus around. We all took off back to the castle as fast as we could fly. I worried that the swans might not be able to keep up with flying horses, but the white birds almost outstripped us by the time the castle was in sight.

As we came up to it, Sofia gasped in dismay. "Oh, no! Look!"

Below us, a huge crowd had gathered around a pyre of wood, where Elisa was already tied to a stake at the center of the pyre. The swans shrieked and dove for the castle, flying as fast as they could. As we raced to catch them, I could see the executioner approaching the stake with a lighted torch. We were running out of time.

"Faster, Minimus!" Sofia yelled. I urged Electra on, too. The swans were far ahead of us now. Below, I could see Derek being held back by two guards, fighting desperately to get to his princess. The torch's flames touched the pyre, and the wood started to burn. One of the villagers in the crowd suddenly pointed up.

"Look!"

Out of the sky came eleven snow-white swans, who descended upon the flames with beating wings, forcing the fire out. Then some of them severed Elisa's ropes with their beaks, while others attacked the executioner until he dropped the torch, which they quickly extinguished. Elisa jumped from the pyre and dashed to one side to get her shirts. Derek freed himself from the guards with one final effort, and raced to stop the bishop, who was going after Elisa.

I landed my horse right in front of the bishop. "Going somewhere?" Electra flared her wings, blocking his path. Sofia landed beside me. She turned to Derek. "We'll take care of him. Go get Elisa." The prince nodded gratefully and dashed past us to find her.

The bishop glared venomously at both of us. "I knew you two would be trouble," he hissed.

The crowds were shifting in awe at the spectacle. Whispers and murmurs passed from mouth to ear. "Did you see that?" "Swans came down from the sky!" "They saved her!" "It's a miracle!"

"Sorcery!" the bishop shrieked. "That woman is a witch! And when I find her, I will drag her back onto that pyre, tie her to the stake by her hair, and light the bonfire _myself!_ "

"Over my dead body!" boomed a deep baritone voice. Sofia backed Minimus up to reveal the owner of the voice, a man easily six feet tall, with dark wavy hair just like Elisa's. Behind him stood ten more dark-haired men, all of them wearing a long-sleeved shirt made out of nettles.

Elisa's brothers.

Sofia grinned. "The curse is broken! She saved them!"

The bishop turned pale and started murmuring Hail Marys under his breath, slowly backing away from the group of brothers.

Sofia and I jumped off our horses and ran to greet Elisa and Derek. Both of them were sobbing with joy. When they saw us, they both rushed to us.

"Sofia!" Elisa cried, in a high, musical voice. "Thank you so much for all your help." The two of them embraced happily. Derek gave me a grateful hug, too. "You guys saved her life."

By now the king had joined us and was trying to make sense of what had just happened. Elisa, thrilled at the opportunity to speak after nearly two years of silence, hurried to explain it to him. "You see, your majesty, my wicked stepmother had cursed my brothers," she gestured to the group of men who were now closing in on the bishop, "—and the spell that I used to restore them was given to me by a fairy queen, and fairy magic isn't evil like that bishop told you. It's good, and it only does good things."

Derek stood protectively close to her, staring in wonder at her as she spoke. The king looked between her, the brothers, and his bishop, who the brothers had taken by the shoulders and led him over to face the king. Derek's father considered him carefully. "Well, bishop? This woman's magic has been the salvation of these men. Why then should we punish her for this? Who has she harmed?"

The bishop had no answer, only opening and closing his mouth like a codfish. The king turned back to Derek and Elisa. "It seems to me that this young lady's commitment to helping her family, even in the face of mortal peril, proves that she is not only innocent, but a worthy bride for my son."

The two of them lit up. "You mean?" Derek asked.

The king nodded. "You have my blessing, son."

Derek cheered and Elisa squealed as he picked her up by the waist and spun her around.

The king turned to us. "As for you, Princess Sofia and Prince Hugo, you have saved an innocent life this day. You have my deepest thanks."

"Just looking out for our friends, your Majesty," Sofia said with a curtsy. "But it's time for us to be getting home now."

"Bye, Sofia!" called Elisa, waving as she and Derek dashed off to find a bed.

Sofia looked at me with a tired but satisfied smile on her face. "Let's go home."


	15. Episode 15: A Taste

[Author's Note: I've had a lot of comments asking for me to write you guys an M-rated chapter for Hugo and Sofia. I fully intend to do just that, BUT I will tell you all what Hugo told Sofia: it will happen when it's time, and not a second sooner. In the meantime here's a little action. My innocent readers, skip this chapter. Language and sexual themes abundant.]

The rest of the week I worked on my solo routines, and Sofia came over to watch most days. Sometimes she stayed home, when her ribs were especially sore. While I missed having her there, I was more than willing to allow her ample time to recover. The next week, however, Sofia showed up with her skates in hand. I watched her as she sat down and pulled her shoes off, then asked patiently, "What're you doing?"

She looked up at me. "I'm ready to practice."

I crossed my arms. "You're still hurt."

"It only hurts if you really hit it," she replied, nudging her hurt side with her elbow.

I rolled my eyes. "Not a chance, baby. One more week."

"It's already been two we—wait, what did you just call me?" Sofia paused in lacing her skates to look at me curiously.

Leaning down to kiss her cheek, I cooed, "I called you baby."

The way I could actually see the blood rush into her cheeks turned me on. Everything about her, the way she breathed out in a rush, the way her sapphire eyes flickered down the length of my torso before landing back on my mouth, it all set me on fire from head to toe. She finally met my eyes again and whispered, "Baby?"

I leaned a little closer. "You're my girlfriend, aren't you?" I murmured. My body felt magnetically attracted to hers, and I could see her move closer. I could actually feel the heat coming off her skin. Her heart was pounding, matching pace with mine.

In a quick movement, she grabbed me behind the neck and forced her lips into mine. Oh, god. The need I could feel in her touch suppressed what was left of my resistance and I hit my knees next to her on the ground. My arms snaked around her torso and clutched her to me, letting her feel the full extent of what she had done to me pressed against her stomach. She made a small noise in her throat, then opened her mouth and poked at my bottom lip with her tongue.

An eager groan escaped my own lips as I parted them to meet her tongue with my own. All rational thought shut down. She was mine, and I was all hers. This time when one of her hands slid below my belt, I didn't stop her, and when her hand tightened on my ass, I grunted appreciatively. My grip tightened around her, pushing her against my aching length. Oh my god she was so warm.

Sofia moaned into the kiss, rubbing her hips against me. Hearing how much she liked what she felt just made me harder. And—oh my god—she was undoing my belt. I briefly considered the fact that she probably shouldn't be going there, but the head rush I was getting just by having her hands that close to my—oh god, her fingertips brushed the fabric of my pants, then traced the line of my zipper along my entire length. Oh, fuck. The princess broke the kiss. I drew a ragged breath as she pressed her lips against my neck. This could get out of hand. "Sofia?"

"Don't worry," my princess shushed, lifting her mouth just enough to move slightly downwards and kiss again, this time at the collar of my shirt. "I'll keep _my_ clothes on." When she said the word 'my' she flattened her palm against my groin, cupping the entirety of my bulge in one hand as her other worked to undo my belt. The touch was electrifying.

"Oh my god, Sofia," I groaned. "Are you su—?" Sofia had reached up and silenced me with another kiss. I couldn't protest as she yanked my pants downward, taking my boxers with them. My eyes flew open and I practically flinched as my iron-hard cock was suddenly exposed. With my pants out of the way, Sofia returned one hand to the back of my neck, holding my face against hers and effectively keeping me from escaping as her other hand wrapped around my length, tentatively stroking it.

I had never felt anything quite like it. Her touch felt better than any previous sexual experience, and every sensation felt as new to me as it was to her. My eyes finally fluttered closed and I melted into her kiss; the pleasure of her skin against my member was so intense that no matter how much I wanted to wait, I couldn't control it.

Sofia felt me give in to her and started gaining confidence, stroking faster. Eventually she released my head, and I leaned back to take in some much-needed oxygen. She was kissing my neck again, adding in little licks and nips as she explored the skin of my collarbone, then in one swift movement she was pulling my shirt over my head, and I obediently helped her, leaving my entire torso bare for her amusement.

She took her time admiring me shirtless, although she had seen me without a shirt plenty of times before. Granted, she had never seen me with my cock hanging out, painfully erect, begging for her to touch it again. I gave her a crooked half-grin and shrugged. My princess stared at me for a moment longer, then looked at me with a smile. "Stand up," she commanded.

I couldn't disobey. Shakily I got to my feet so I was standing in front of my princess, while she knelt on the floor in front of me, licking her lips as my dick bobbed in the air inches away from her face. She leaned forward slightly and kissed the head. My eyes rolled shut. "Oh, my god."

Sofia grinned up at me. "You like that?" she asked seductively. Before I could answer she had opened her mouth and taken as much of my cock as she could all at once. I felt as though I'd been electrocuted.

"Oh, fuck, Sofia!" I cried, fighting hard to stay on my feet. Her mouth was so hot; I could feel the heat radiating from her touch and spreading all over my body. I felt dizzy.

After a moment of just letting my cock rest in her mouth, Sofia started playing with it. Her motions were eager and experimental; she seemed to enjoy trying out different things she could do to me. She swirled her tongue around the head, then bobbed up and down my length, then licked all the way from the balls to the head, and started over. Everything felt incredible, just because it was Sofia doing it. She moaned into me, and I thrilled to know she was enjoying this as much as I was.

Throwing caution to the wind I reached down and placed on hand on the top of her beautiful head. She glanced up at me, without stopping the way she was sucking on me. Good god, she looked great with my cock in her mouth. She gave me a little smile and refocused her attention on my member. I guided her motions with my hand, helping her keep a steady rhythm as she sucked up and down my length.

She felt so good. Too good. The hotness of her mouth and the sultry look she was giving me, oh my god I loved this woman and—"Shit, Sofia, I'm gonna—!" I tried to pull away but she grabbed my hips and held me in place, and I moaned loudly as I climaxed with my cock still firmly in her mouth. Sofia swallowed every drop of the hot spunk that poured into her mouth, and when I finally ran dry, she leaned back on her heels, grinning up at me.

I put my pants back on and sank to the ground to sit next to her, panting lightly. Gently, I pulled her to me and kissed the top of her head. "I wasn't gonna let you do that."

"I know," Sofia murmured, leaning against me. "That's why I didn't ask permission."


	16. Episode 16: Pillow Talk

I still couldn't quite catch my breath. Every extremity of my body tingled. Sofia's face felt hot against the naked skin of my chest, and I could feel her curls sticking to my sweat. And I couldn't care less. Her touch felt so good.

Sofia was breathing heavily, too. Turning her head, she started decorating my chest with sweet kisses. God, it felt heavenly. Maybe she wasn't a princess after all, but an angel. A perfect little angel with crystal-blue eyes and porcelain skin. After a moment, Sofia mumbled into my chest, "So, how was it?"

I was so lost in my happiness that almost didn't hear her. "Hm?"

"How'd I do?" she repeated.

A grin spread across my face and I chuckled. "For a first blowjob ever," I said, leaning down to kiss the top of her head, "It was pretty damn amazing."

I could feel her grin into my chest. "Good."

"Where'd you learn to do that?" I asked, wondering if I would regret knowing.

Sofia didn't even seem fazed. She had the remarkable ability to discuss the most personal things with complete innocence. Without looking up, she replied simply, "I asked Amber."

I paused for a minute. "You asked your sister…how to give a good blowjob?"

"Mhm."

"What, did you just knock on her door and say 'hey, will you teach me how to suck my boyfriend off?'"

"How else was I supposed to learn how to do it?"

I stared down at her in confusion. "And exactly how long have you been planning this little…encounter?"

"As in, how long have I wanted to or how long have I had an actual plan to get your pants off?"

My stomach fluttered. "H-How long have you wanted to…get my pants off?" Just knowing that she had wanted to do that made me want to pull her into my arms and give her everything, and I thrilled with anticipation for her response.

"Since like, freshman year. I mean, before that I wanted to make out with you, but once puberty really took hold I started thinking…other things." She scooted closer and looked up at me with an adorable little smile.

No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get rid of the ridiculous grin on my face. She had wanted me since high school. It was too good to be true.

She grinned back at me and crawled onto my lap so she was straddling me. "As for how long I've had an actual plan to get your pants off, I started working on that right after our first date."

"And you took lessons from Amber?" That was still kind of weird to me.

Sofia giggled. "She thought it was awkward at first, but that's what sisters are for, you know?" She shrugged.

I had no idea. Axel had given me vague bits of advice on how to handle girls, but generally Hildegarde and I had learned everything together by trial and error. Although I had to admit that it was great to have a girlfriend who knew what she was doing right off the bat. There had been some really uncomfortable moments learning with Hildy.

Her sapphire eyes had strayed from my face, and with one finger she started tracing the contours of my shirtless torso. The sensation was electrifying, almost like a tickle, but stronger. I shivered beneath her touch. She snickered.

"I love the way you shiver when I touch you," she cooed, leaning forward and kissing the side of my neck. I groaned quietly.

"So," she asked, placing little kisses on my shoulders and collarbone, "I spilled my guts for you. How long have you wanted to kiss me, mm?"

Pausing for a minute, I frowned. "You really don't know?" I asked.

Sitting up, she looked at me in the face, confused. "No."

I smiled softly. "Always."

She frowned. "But you hated me when we first met."

"I know," I replied. "Doesn't mean I could get you out of my head." Even before the Flying Crown Championship seven years ago, when I still swore I loathed the young princess that had beaten me, she somehow constantly invaded my thoughts. After that, when we became best friends, I didn't resist her continual presence in my mind.

Sofia was still watching me carefully. "What about Hildegarde?"

"What about her?"

"What about the times while you were dating her?"

"See, the beauty of being your best friend," I said with a grin, "Is that no matter who I was dating, you were always there."

"But you liked me the whole time?"

"Yep." The first time Sofia's face had appeared in my mind while I was sleeping with Hildegarde, I had felt horrendously guilty. But I quickly figured out there was nothing I could do about it, and I stopped fighting it. I never said Sofia's name out loud, so Hildegarde never knew I wasn't thinking about her.

"Did you still like Hildy, too?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, but not really in the same way."

"What do you mean?"

It was hard to explain. "With Hildegarde, we always kind of knew that nothing would come of it. We were just a couple of kids messing around. You, you're not like that." My heart was suddenly thudding in my ears. She was staring blankly at me, waiting for me to continue. I cleared my throat. "I don't wanna just mess around with you. That's why I didn't want to have sex with you right away. You're worth way more than that, you're…" I fumbled, and sighed. "I'm not making any sense, am I?"

She smiled softly. "It makes perfect sense, Hugo."

I exhaled in relief, and my princess leaned forward to kiss me.

[Author's note: I drew this scene for you guys. It's the new cover photo. Check it out!]


	17. Episode 17: Aunt Tilly UPDATED

We were snuggling watching a movie, when Sofia randomly asked me, "Have you ever met my Aunt Tilly?"

Taken by surprise, I had to stop and think about it. I knew her mom and dad very well, but I couldn't remember ever actually meeting the infamous Aunt Tilly. I had heard all the stories about her, how she had tamed a dragon by teaching him to knit, how she had married Sir Bartleby, the knight that never spoke, how she baked pies made with apples from a magical moving orchard. "You know, I don't think I ever have."

Sofia kind of nodded. "She's not in Enchancia a lot of the time. She and Uncle Bartleby travel a lot."

'Uncle Bartleby'. God, she was so cute. I leaned over and kissed her forehead. She giggled.

"Well, they're going to be in town next week," Sofia started hesitantly. "Would you like to have dinner with us?"

"With you and Aunt Tilly?"

"And Uncle Bartleby, but he won't be much for conversation. But I'd for like you to meet them. And for them to meet you."

When she said it like that, I understood what she meant. She wanted Aunt Tilly to meet me. It hadn't been a big deal to tell Queen Miranda that Sofia and I were dating after we had been best friends for seven years. Sofia's mom loved me. I had called her Mom for years already. As for King Roland, Sofia was still struggling with the fact that he was her step-father, so it didn't really matter that he liked me, too. But Aunt Tilly had been her mentor and her role model for as long as I had known her. Of all the adults in Sofia's life, this was the one to impress.

"I'd love to."

"Yay!" my princess squealed. I grinned. I loved that 'yay.'

The next Friday night, Sofia and I sat cozily in the back of the carriage as we rolled up to a Tudor-style manor house, complete with three gargoyles standing guard on the roof. Sofia smiled at me as I surveyed the scene carefully.

"You nervous?" she asked.

I cleared my throat and offered her a smile. "No."

"You'll be fine," she whispered, leaning over to kiss my cheek. Of course she knew I had been lying when I said I wasn't nervous. My princess knew me well enough to know when I was lying, even when I was lying to myself. I hopped out of the carriage and helped Sofia down. She held onto my hand as we walked up the steps to the door.

"Hi there!" Sofia said, before we had opened the door. I looked around to see who she was talking to, when suddenly the raven door-knocker opened its beak.

"Welcome back, Sofia!" it greeted. I stared at it. Sofia knocked.

The door swung open a few moments later and I found myself looking straight over the head of a middle-aged woman in a greenish dress. Was this Aunt Tilly? She was so much…shorter than I had expected. Even Sofia was taller than she was. The smile on her face, however, was big enough to fill the whole room.

"Sofia!" she squealed, rushing forward to hug her niece. I looked past the two of them and met the gaze of Sir Bartleby, standing silently behind his wife. He seemed perfectly content to let Tilly's personality speak for both of them.

Tilly had turned to me. "And you must be Prince Hugo!" She held me at arms' length by the shoulders so she could look at me, then she turned to my princess. "I must say Sofia, you weren't exaggerating about how handsome he is."

Sofia turned beet red. My chest swelled. She had told her Aunt Tilly that I was handsome? I thought I was going to die.

"Why don't we go inside?" Sofia suggested instead of acknowledging her aunt's comment, and herded everyone into the entryway of the house.

I scooted around Sir Bartleby to follow my princess inside and nearly tripped over a little man with pointed ears. He was just a little taller than my knees, with a ring of dust-grey hair around the back of his head. "Oh, pardon me!" he cried in a posh accent, nimbly flitting out of the way of my feet.

Sofia looked over and grinned. "Hi, Mr. Spruce." The little creature bowed happily and vanished into the kitchen. My princess smiled up at me. "That's Mr. Spruce. He's a hobgoblin, and he keeps the house nice."

A talking door-knocker and a hobgoblin…Aunt Tilly really was every bit as unusual as Sofia had told me she was. Tonight was going to be interesting, to say the least.

"Dinner's not quite ready," Aunt Tilly was saying with a smile. Sir Bartleby tapped her shoulder and made a quick motion to her. She nodded. "What a whiz-bang way to pass the time. Let's go to the music room!"

I followed everyone to a room down the hall with sliding wooden doors and music notes painted on the walls. Spruce was already there with a pot of tea. Things happened so quickly in this house; I'd be lucky to just keep up, let alone make a good impression. I didn't even have time to sit down before I was causing chaos; I bumped into Spruce's back while he was pouring Sofia's tea. The hobgoblin lurched forward and tea spilled all over the skirt of Sofia's dress.

I felt my face turn redder than the carpet and I gasped in horror when I saw the mess I had made. "I'm so sorry," I said in a rush, trying to think of something I could do to fix what I'd done. I could think of nothing; Spruce had already cleaned everything else up (miraculously), but Sofia's dress was totally ruined. "Sofia, I—"

"It's okay," Sofia said. "I have an extra dress upstairs. I'll just run and change." She hurried out of the room, leaving me alone with Tilly and Bartleby.

I looked over at them contritely. "I'm so sorry about the tea, I didn't mean to."

They both just smiled magnanimously and shook their heads. "Don't give it another thought, dear," Tilly advised me. "No harm done." Other than Sofia's dress, that was true. There wasn't a spot on the carpet or the couch, and not a single drip on the table.

"While we wait for Sofia to change, why don't we play a song on my magical music box?" Tilly stood up and crossed the room to a large music box with a ballerina on top. I was about to wonder what made it magical when suddenly the ballerina did a graceful pirouette and said "Hello, Duchess Matilda!"

Was everything in this house secretly alive?

Tilly pulled a rainbow-striped roll off of a shelf full of music rolls of all colors. After putting the rainbow roll in the music box, Aunt Tilly grinned over at me. "Watch this." She closed the door to the music box and it started to play a lighthearted song. As I watched, a beautiful rainbow burst from the point shoes of the little ballerina and flew around the room in shimmering ribbons of color.

"Woah!"

"And each roll does something different." Tilly and Bartleby grinned at each other and at me. "Would you like to choose the next roll, Hugo?" the duchess asked.

"Me?"

"You."

Hesitantly, I stood up and approached the shelf. The rolls were stacked three deep in places, and I didn't want to choose one that might start an avalanche and make another mess. On the middle shelf, sitting on the very top of the pile was a roll that was stark white. I picked it up, and the other side of the roll was pitch black. "How about this one?" I asked, showing Aunt Tilly the roll.

She smiled. "It's your choice." Putting the rainbow roll away, she pushed the music box towards me. Gently, I slid the roll into place and shut the door.

The ballerina twirled as the tune started to play. We all watched the box intently, waiting for it to do something. But all that happened was Sofia came back through the door.

"Here I am," she said, brushing the skirt of her clean purple dress. "Sorry about that." I gave her a smile as she crossed the room to my side. My princess looked over at the ballerina. "Aunt Tilly showed you the magical music box, huh?" she asked.

I opened my mouth to answer when I was interrupted by another voice at the door.

"Sorry that took so long, I couldn't find my dress—wait, what?"

In the doorway stood Sofia, dressed in her purple suit with the striped lapels. She stared slack-jawed at Sofia, standing next to me, in her classic purple gown, who was staring with equal disbelief at her double. Sofia stared at Sofia. Sofia stared back. I stared back and forth between the two them.

"Um…what's going on?"


	18. Trailer: Season 1 Finale

[Hey guys. Sorry for my long absence; real life got rough. It isn't much, but I wrote a little scrap for you guys, with hopefully more to follow in the next few days. Thank you all so much for your wonderful patience and support. You're the reason I didn't abandon this project.]

There was chaos in the music room. The two Sofias were pointing at each other in confusion, alternating between looking at me and looking at each other. Spruce had come back into the room and was dashing back and forth under everybody's feet. Everyone spoke at once, except for Sir Bartleby.

"What's going on?" asked the Sofia wearing a dress.

The other Sofia grabbed my arm. "Hugo, which music roll did you pick?"

I tried to remember, staring down at her. "Um, it was black and white…"

Spruce gasped in dismay. "Not the Doppler Roll!"

"What does it do?" I asked, although I was positive I wouldn't like the answer.

"It replicates the Doppler Duplicato spell," Aunt Tilly explained.

"So it made a duplicate of Sofia?"

"Right," said the Sofia in riding clothes. "But it isn't a perfect duplicate."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

The princess wearing a dress crossed her arms, looking directly at her double. "Unlike the real Sofia, the copy is rotten to the core."

I glanced back and forth between them. "So how do we undo it?"

"We'll have the copy put this roll into the music box," Aunt Tilly pulled out an all-white roll. "The song will make the copy disappear in a puff of smoke. But we have to be very sure we've got the duplicate, or we could accidentally make the real Sofia disappear!"

"What?" I gasped.

"What?" said both Sofias at the same time.

I glanced between them again. "But how do we know which one's which?"

Aunt Tilly shrugged. "Well, you're the one who put the roll in the music box."


	19. Episode 18: A Love That's True Pt 1

All eyes in the room were fixed on me as I stared back and forth between the two Sofias. Their features were exactly the same in every way; the only difference between them was their clothes. There was no way I would be able to tell them apart by appearance.

I turned away from them and paced the room, trying to think of another way to tell. Was there something that only the real Sofia would know? I looked back over at them.

"Where did I take you on our first date?" I demanded.

"To the Butterfly Caverns," replied two voices in unison.

I frowned. "Where was our first kiss?"

"My bedroom." They both answered at once again.

This was more difficult than I thought. It seemed that they had the same memories also. I racked my brain, trying to think of something else, but my rational thought was getting blocked by the overwhelming fear that if I got this wrong, I could lose my princess forever. Looking over at the two of them, my stomach churned when I noticed that even the way they tossed their hair was exactly the same. They were both Sofia, down to the last detail.

Finally, I thought of the most intimate secret she could possibly know. With a shy glance back at Aunt Tilly and Uncle Bartleby, I steeled myself and asked the two princesses, "Have I ever made love to you?"

Both of them blushed dark pink, and both of them looked up at me through their eyelashes, and to my dismay, they both whispered, "No."

Frustration bubbled in my chest. How could they both know that? My eyes darted from one of them to the other, then to Aunt Tilly and Uncle Bartleby, then back to the two Sofias. This was impossible, and the stakes were too high. I couldn't do this. "Excuse me a minute," I muttered, then stepped around Spruce and dashed out the front door.

On one side of the wrap-around porch there was a wooden bench, onto which I collapsed and dropped my head into my hands. This was all my fault; if I hadn't played the Doppler Roll in the music box none of this would have happened. Now I ran the risk of making the real Sofia disappear forever. For all intents and purposes, I had to choose which of the two princesses in there would live to see the next dawn, and which one wouldn't. It was too heavy a burden for any nineteen-year-old kid.

"Prince Hugo?" A quiet voice made me look up. Sofia's Aunt Tilly walked over to me and sat down beside me on the bench. "Is everything all right?"

I stared at her for a second. "No, it isn't," I replied finally. "How am I supposed to know for sure which of them is the real Sofia? They're exactly the same!"

"Only on the outside," she corrected. "What's in their heart is vastly different. Tell me something, Hugo."

I looked up at her.

"Do you love her?"

I had never said it out loud, but it had run through my head countless times. If I were to be truly honest, I knew there was only one way to answer her. "Yes."

Aunt Tilly smiled. "Then you'll know." And with that, she got up and went back inside.

I stared blankly after her as she left. What was that supposed to mean? Did she just want to draw that confession out of me or something? With a groan, I leaned back on the bench and mentally replayed her words. She said that the two Sofias were only identical on the outside. Their hearts were different.

Shifting my weight forward so I could rest my forearms on my knees, I frowned in concentration. God, I hadn't used this much mental effort since I graduated from Royal Prep. What was in Sofia's heart that made her the wonderful girl I loved?

After several more minutes of excruciating thought, I walked back into the music room, where everyone looked tensely up at me.

"I have an idea."

[Author's Note: Sorry again for the huge delay. I'll try not to keep you waiting too long on this cliffhanger. Thank you guys so much for your support; I read every single comment and they make my day. And yes, SofiaxHugo Fan, you're welcome to advertise anywhere you like. Thanks again!]


	20. Episode 19: A Love That's True Pt 2

Everyone in the music room watched me silently as I explained my plan. "I need to talk to each Sofia alone, one at a time. Everyone else, go wait in the parlor, please." Looking to the Sofia in her purple dress, I took her hand. "You stay here with me. Other Sofia," I turned to the princess in her riding clothes, "Go with Aunt Tilly for now. I'll send for you in a minute."

The second Sofia nodded silently and followed her aunt, while the first Sofia squeezed my hand gently. A shiver ran up my spine when I remembered that the soft hand holding mine might not be the same hand that I held yesterday.

I stood in silence until everyone had left and Uncle Bartleby closed the door behind them. Once I was sure we were alone, I turned back to Sofia, who was looking up at me with her sparkling blue eyes. My head swam for a moment. This had better work.

I took a breath. "Sofia, do you love me?" I usually didn't ask her such blunt questions, but under the circumstances I was willing to embarrass her a little to discover which of them was my princess.

Almost without pause, she answered me. "Yes."

I had expected her to say it, but my stomach erupted in butterflies anyway. My princess loved me. But that wasn't enough. I knew that both of them would answer that question the same way, so I continued.

With one sweep, I pulled Sofia against me, wrapping both arms around her waist and leaning down until I was almost brushing her lips. "Then let's get out of here," I whispered. "Run away with me, somewhere no one will ever find us, where we can be together forever, away from all this."

Sofia's face lit up, and she leaned up and kissed me passionately. Mentally, I fought back the romantic fog that threatened to cloud my judgement as I kissed her back. When she finally separated from me, she was grinning up at me. "Oh, Hugo, that sounds wonderful. Of course I'll go with you! Let's leave right now!" She pulled on my hands to drag me out the door, but I stood still.

"I have to deal with the doppleganger first," I said. "Send her in here and I'll take care of her, then we can go." I leaned down and planted one more little kiss on her cheek for good measure, and the princess hurried out the door, her skirt bobbing with her steps.

As soon as I was alone, I wiped my mouth and shook my head to clear it. I still needed to concentrate. I couldn't know for sure which of them was my Sofia until I had talked to both of them, and I needed to ask exactly the same questions to both of them.

The next Sofia shuffled into the music room with an uncertain look on her face. I didn't speak until she had closed the door behind her, and I had held out my hand for her to approach me. When she had taken my hand, I looked down at her and asked her quietly, "Sofia, do you love me?"

"Yes." There was no hesitation this time. My heart skipped, but I continued as planned.

Just like I had with the other Sofia, I pulled her against me and asked her to run away with me, where no one would ever find us. This time, instead of beaming and leaning up to kiss me, Sofia frowned and pulled away from me.

"Run away?" she repeated. "But what about everything we have here?"

My stomach flipped, but I did my best to hide my reaction and keep going. Mentally I channeled my predecessors, all the Disney princes that had come before me. There was no time for a song, but I didn't sing much anyway. As romantically as I could, I knelt in front of her. "All I care about is you."

"What?" Sofia stared at me as if I'd lost my mind. "Do you have any idea what that would do to our families? What about Royal Prep, I haven't graduated! And the Olympics! Hugo, this is really irresponsible!"

With a satisfied nod, I stood back up. "All right, then. Come on." I took her hand and led her back to the parlor, where I called for everyone else to join us back in the music room. Once everyone was assembled, I stood facing them with the white music roll in my hand. The music roll that would make one of these princesses disappear.

"I know which is the doppleganger," I announced. One Sofia watched me nervously while the other smiled sweetly at me, relaxed and confident. Aunt Tilly watched silently from the background, with Uncle Bartleby standing just behind her, his hand on her shoulder.

My heart thudded in my chest, but I was sure. I stepped forward to the princesses, and handed the white music roll to the Sofia wearing the purple dress. "You."

The princess's face immediately dropped into an ugly scowl. "What?! How did you know it was me?" Now that her identity had been revealed, the copy of Sofia dropped the 'sweet princess' act and showed her true colors. She glared jealously at the real Sofia.

I smiled and crossed my arms over my chest. "Simple. The real Sofia always puts others before herself." I turned to the princess in the riding clothes, my true princess. "I asked both of you to run away with me. You agreed," I said to the false Sofia.

The rotten-hearted princess pouted. "Because I love you!"

I ignored her lies and looked back to the real Sofia. "But you, you refused me, and told me to my face how irresponsible that would be! And I've never known you to pull any punches, princess."

In the corner I heard Aunt Tilly stifle a laugh.

The fake Sofia huffed and went to the music box. "I never get to have any fun," she whined as she put the white roll into the music box. The ballerina began to twirl, and slowly the purple dress-wearing princess faded into a cloud of colorful sparkling magic.

For a minute, no one spoke. Then, quietly, Aunt Tilly said, "I'm very proud of you, Prince Hugo."

I turned to face her with a grin. Then Uncle Bartleby squeezed her shoulder, and the two of them followed Spruce back to the parlor, leaving me alone with my princess.

We smiled at each other for an instant, then Sofia collapsed into my arms with a relieved grin. "Oh, Hugo..."

My chest swelled and I held her tightly. "Sofia." Her sapphire eyes looked up at me.

I brushed an auburn curl out of her face. "I've never told you before…" My voice stuck in my throat. I swallowed and tried again. "…I love you."

A soft grin covered her face. "I love you, too."

And as I leaned down and kissed my princess, I finally understood why true love was worth singing about.


End file.
